Walking through a nursing home after hours, the halls are empty but full of our sounds: generators, air pumps, washers. It's a symphony exclusively associated with human presence. Disorients when it all plays in absence of voices, footfalls and clothes swishing. This is probably what so many Horror movies/games/books strive for in mood, and I can see how it might be creepy, but it's not. It's a tickle, like my brain is waiting for society to load in with the rest of this setting.
I actually find those sounds comforting. True silence is infinitely more threatening. And rare.
ReplyDeleteThis is very good. I love the deviation from your typical style post. Very poetic and accurate.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny sometimes to listen to the sounds surrounding our lives without any lives hanging around at that time.
ReplyDeleteThe sound of society is... machines. It does make sense.
ReplyDeleteMy condo building has air circulators in each unit that sound sort of like the background engine noise on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It used to irk me when I first moved in; although I can turn it off in my unit, the air gets stuffy very quickly. Nowadays it will wake me up if the circulator turns off, which only happens during power outages. Humans are funny.